Bangalore blast: Congress leader in tweet storm

A police officer inspects the site of the bomb blast near the BJP office in Bangalore. (AP)

The Congress on Wednesday sought to distance itself from party leader Shakeel Ahmad's remark that the Bangalore blast would benefit the BJP, which left the opposition party furious.

“If the blast near the BJP office in Bangalore is a terror attack, it will certainly help the BJP politically on the eve of election,” the Congress leader tweeted within hours of the explosion. Terrorism was a national issue, and to an extent an international problem, Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said. “We do not view the problem in terms of political benefit or loss,” he said.

Ahmad's remarks were utterly insensitive and totally unacceptable from a person holding a public position, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.

But there was no stopping Ahmad. He tweeted in the evening, "Karnataka HM R Ashok says blast near our office was aimed to kill BJP leaders due to elections. This will also generate some sympathy."

Karnataka goes to the polls on May 5.

Minister of state for home RPN Singh said no political mileage should be derived from terror attacks. "What he (Ahmad) said was his personal view and the party has nothing to do with it," Singh said.

But Ahmad kept at it. “…All I have said was if it was a terror attack, the BJP will benefit from it. There's nothing wrong with that,” the former union minister told HT in Patna.